1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data for diagnosing the condition of a living body. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for obtaining data for diagnosing the condition of a living body using an ultrahigh frequency (UHF) signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally in medicine, and more particularly in diagnosing the health condition of a human body using an electromagnetic field having a power that does not generate heat, a method of analyzing the state of a channel composed of acupuncture points can be used. In this method, a UHF signal is radiated at the skin of a human body and obtains data for diagnosing the state of each organ in the human body, or the functional state of an organ corresponding to a channel, using UHF signals that have been reflected from and transmitted through the skin.
A conventional method of analyzing the state of a channel is disclosed on pages 174-187 of a book written by I. Z. Samosjuk, V. P. Lysenjuk, and J. P. Limansky, entitled xe2x80x9cUntraditional Methods of Diagnostic and Therapyxe2x80x9d, and published by Zdalovya in Kiev in 1994. In the disclosed method, an electrical signal is radiated at a human body, a signal detected from the human body is processed, and an analysis method (electro-puncture diagnosis) involving radiating an electron wave at a human body is used for analyzing the state of points on the body suitable for acupuncture based on the state of 12 channels. According to this method, electro-skin resistance or impedance (ESR) is obtained with respect to each selected point. Also, an average ESR with respect to a plurality of points is obtained, and the deviation between the average and the ESR of each channel is obtained, so the state of the points are estimated from the deviation. However, in such a conventional method, precise measurement of the ESR is difficult because current is applied to a human body while ESR is measured. The accuracy of ESR may decrease according to the state of a connection between an electrode and skin, moistness of the skin, or the method used to stick the electrode to the skin, specifically, an angle between the electrode and the skin can reduce accuracy of ESR measurements. Accordingly, this method cannot precisely analyze the state of a channel because ESR cannot be precisely measured.
Another conventional method of analyzing the state of a channel using the radiation of a UHF signal having a power that does not generate heat is disclosed in Russian Federation Patent No. 2143840 published on Jan. 10, 2000. In this conventional method, a UHF signal having fixed amplitudes at different frequencies in a frequency band ranging from 300 MHz to 600 MHz is radiated at an acupuncture point of a channel through a transmitting antenna to analyze the state of each channel. For this, an output signal from another point of the aforementioned channel is received through a receiving antenna, and the maximum conductivity (determined by the ratio of a received signal to a radiated signal) of the section between the points in the above frequency band is obtained. With such a process, maximum conductivities for 12 channels are sequentially obtained. Next, the average of the conductivities for the 12 channels is obtained. The conductivity deviation value for each channel is obtained on the basis of the average of the conductivities and is used as a diagnostic index. However, such a conventional method does not provide sufficient data for analyzing the state of a channel, so it is difficult to diagnose a chronic disease using this method.
A conventional apparatus for analyzing the state of a living body at points suitable for acupuncture to diagnose the condition of a human body and treat the human body is disclosed in France Patent Application No. 2473882 filed in 1981. This conventional apparatus includes a probe generator for transmitting an electrical signal of a ramp function type, a charging circuit, and a control device. Such a conventional apparatus simply detects the positions of points on a patient""s body and does not provide information about the state of points, which characterizes the energy state of a channel. Moreover, as described above, since ESR changes in a complicated manner according to pressure or an angle at which a probe penetrates skin, during diagnosis using an electrical signal such a conventional apparatus cannot precisely analyze the state of points.
Another conventional apparatus for analyzing the state of a channel to diagnose the condition of and treat a human body by feeding a UHF signal to an acupuncture point is disclosed in the above-mentioned Russian Federation Patent. This conventional apparatus includes a charging circuit, a control circuit, a UHF signal generator connected to the control circuit, a transmitting antenna, and a receiving antenna. Here, the receiving antenna is connected to a UHF signal detector, and the UHF signal detector is connected to a channel selector switch through a power amplifier. A first output terminal of the channel selector switch is connected to an input terminal of an indicator that indicates the energy state of a channel. A second output terminal of the channel selector switch is connected to an input terminal of an averaging block which stores data about the energy state of channels and averages the stored data. The averaging block is connected to an input terminal of a deviation block that determines a deviation value on the basis of the average. The deviation block is connected to an indicator, which indicates the deviation value. However, such a conventional apparatus radiates a UHF signal having a power of several milliwatts (mW) at a human body, which may be harmful to the human body. Furthermore, a several milliwatt UHF signal increases the probability of erroneously measuring conductivity. In addition, since an antenna of a transmitter is vulnerable to noise, the sensitivity of a receiver may be decreased. Moreover, such a conventional apparatus cannot obtain sufficient data about the state of a channel, so the precision of analysis of the state of an organ corresponding to the channel decreases.
To solve the above-described problems, it is a first feature of a preferred embodiment of the present invention to provide an apparatus for obtaining enough data to diagnose the condition of a living body using radiation of an ultrahigh frequency (UHF) signal of a low level directed into the living body.
It is a second feature of a preferred embodiment of the present invention to provide a method of obtaining enough data to diagnose the condition of a living body using radiation of a UHF signal of a low level directed into the living body.
To achieve the first feature of an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for obtaining data for diagnosing the condition of a living body using a UHF signal. The apparatus includes a signal transmitter for generating a UHF signal having a frequency in an ultrahigh frequency band and radiating the generated UHF signal at a first point which is one of two acupuncture points which exist on each of at least two acupuncture sections of a living body. The apparatus further includes a signal receiver for receiving a UHF signal emitted from a second point, which is the other one of the two acupuncture points. The signal receiver also detects the magnitude of the received UHF signal and outputs the detected magnitude. The apparatus also includes a signal processor for comparing the detected magnitude of the received UHF signal with a magnitude of the UHF signal generated by the signal transmitter. From the result of comparison, the signal processor also calculates and records a conductivity of each of the acupuncture sections when the UHF signal passes through the corresponding acupuncture section, calculating at least one of a first variation, which indicates a degree of variation in conductivities of the acupuncture sections, and a second variation, which indicates a degree of variation in conductivities for a plurality of channels, using at least two recorded conductivities of the respective acupuncture sections, and outputting the result of calculation as data for diagnosing the condition of the living body.
To achieve the second feature of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of obtaining data for diagnosing the condition of a living body using a UHF signal. The method includes the steps of (a) generating a UHF signal having a frequency in an ultrahigh frequency band and radiating the generated UHF signal at a first point which is one of two acupuncture points which exist on each of at least two acupuncture sections of a living body; (b) receiving a UHF signal emitted from a second point which is the other one of the two acupuncture points and detecting the magnitude of the received UHF signal; and (c) comparing the magnitude detected in step (b) with a magnitude of the UHF signal generated in step (a), calculating and recording a conductivity of each of the acupuncture sections using the result of comparison when the UHF signal passes through the corresponding acupuncture section, and obtaining at least one of a first variation and a second variation as data for diagnosing the condition of the living body, using at least two conductivities of the respective acupuncture sections, the at least two conductivities being calculated and recorded by repeatedly performing steps (a) and (b). The first variation indicates a degree of variation in conductivities of the acupuncture sections; the second variation indicates a degree of variation in conductivities for a plurality of channels.